UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrives in Moscow

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in Moscow on Tuesday. Annan is to meet with Chairman of the Federation Assembly (upper chamber of the Russian Parliament) Sergey Mironov. On Wednesday the UN Secretary General will have a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime-Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Moreover, Kofi Annan was also scheduled a meeting with Chairman of the Russian Parliament lower chamber.

The same day Kofi Annan plans to visit one of the Moscow hospitals in order to find out more about the problem of AIDS expansion, and, afterwards, to participate in the opening of the forum "Stable Development of the Russian Cities" in the Kremlin Palace. The forum is conducted under the program of city development UN Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) and the Russian State Constructing committee.

On Thursday morning Kofi Annan will leave Moscow for Geneva.

This visit of Kofi Annan to Moscow is a traditional visit. As is usual, the UN Secretary General each year visits Moscow and capitals of the other countries, which are of importance for the UN.